In the time period in which The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is set in, Antebellum America, before the start of the Civil War, slavery was legal and blacks were viewed as inferior towards whites. Liberty and justice was definitely not for all citizens, even though the United States was founded upon the basis of freedom from the tyrannical rule of Great Britain. Huck himself was born and raised with this viewpoint of oppressing blacks, but as he matures and begins to think more for himself than from society's expectations and norms, he comes into conflict with himself. His views on slavery drastically change as a result of having Jim as a companion as they adventure along the Mississippi River. This is evident when they encounter several slave hunters looking for escaped slaves, and Huck is deciding whether to turn Jim in or not. He decides not to, saying, "Then I thought a minute, and says to myself, hold on: s'pose you'd 'a' done right and give Jim up, would you feel better than what you do now? No, says I, I'd feel bad-I'd feel just the same way I do now" (Twain 102). He realizes that Jim is his friend and they care of each other, even though associating with blacks results in alienation from society during that time. Back then, freedom was definitely not obtainable for all people.
In today's society, freedom is more achievable to many, but still not for all. For example, even though prejudiced ideas against blacks have diminished by a large amount, there are still many individuals who have racist mindsets, especially among those of the older generations. There has been an increase in discrimination towards Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and some other minority groups. Even though they may be discriminated against, they are still able to achieve freedom, as today's society mostly allows individuals to fully express themselves. As history has shown, there will continue to be less and less discrimination as time passes and ideals change.
Now for the music part! In my freshman year, in symphonic band we played this piece of music titled "Freedom Road," written by James Curnow. This song was inspired by tales of slaves escaping to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Themes include a solemn flute and bassoon duet, which give impressions of sneaking along the Underground Railroad while "following the drinking gourd (Big Dipper)." After, there is a dramatic shift towards achieving freedom, as they have reached the northern states. I'll let you have a listen yourself, and you can interpret what the song means.
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| Real life Freedom Road |
Note: I was not able to find an actual whole recording of the song, but there are some parts that you can listen to.
Beginning and Middle
Beginning and End
Beginning and End (Press the play button above the purple currently viewing box)
I liked the quote from Huck Finn; it was really interesting to see how Huck's opinions changed throughout the book. I'm curious as to why none of the other children in the story, such as Tom, ever share these ideas too, and just go on with their happy racist little lives. I agree with the synthesis to modern times too, since it is clear that some groups are more oppressed than others in our society. However, as the internet becomes more and more widespread and people can be exposed to many different ideas, I think (and hope) that most of society's biases and inequalities will cease to exist, as people realize that we're all in this together, and there's no practical purpose in our primal traditions of racism.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the entire blog, but I especially liked the part where you brought in an everyday life example and dissected the true freedom's and liberties in modern day society.
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